Mother's Honor
by Michael Fetter
Summary: Ranma and his mother are finally reunited.


Disclaimer: Four score and seven years ago, our forefather's founded upon this fanfic, a new idea, filled with astonishment and creative insight. Ranma1/2 is property of Rumiko Takahashi and Viz video.

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Mother's Honor

By Michael Fetter

A knock at the door broke Akane's chain of thoughts along with Kasumi's humming. The older sister turned down the heat of the stove to answer the door. She smiled and wiped her hands on her apron and made sure she was presentable.

The door slid open and Kasumi's smile brightened. "Auntie Saotome, how nice to see you again."

The Saotome matriarch, however, was far from happy. She looked a bit fatigued in her kimono and the hemline was wet. In one hand she held the family blade, twenty-six inches of sharpened steel wrapped in pale silk. In the other, Nodoka had a small bag she used when grocery shopping. "Is Genma or your father here?"

"Of course." Kasumi nodded and began to lead her into the living room where Nabiki and Akane were still watching TV. Her father sat playing shogi with Mr. Saotome in his panda form, likely because he heard Nodoka at the door. "Would you like some tea, Auntie?"

"No. I won't be here long." Nodoka replied crisply. 

Kasumi took a few steps back so it wouldn't look like she was intruding on a discussion, but she was curious as to why Nodoka seemed so upset. 

Nodoka was facing Soun who looked back with a wary glance at her sword. Neither spoke for a few moments, the air was becoming noticeably colder. Saotome-panda had crawled off to a corner of the room and played with an old tire, though he continued to watch his wife. 

After a minute of silence, Soun finally choked out his question. "Is something the matter, Nodoka?"

Taking a deep breath and letting it out through her nose like a raging bull, Nodoka reached into her bag. "You should not have kept this from me, Soun."

He couldn't understand what Nodoka was referring to, but his heart began to beat faster until his chest felt like it was being hammered by Akane's mallet. 

Time slowed as Nodoka extracted her hand again and tossed something through the air with a flip of her wrist. A spray of red streaked across the shogi board and the wall behind it. Red hair flapped through the wind as the thing tumbled onto the shogi board, rolling for a moment before settling in a position to stare at Soun.

Soun's heart stopped and he scrambled back on his hands and knees from the horrible sight. His nightmares had never taken on such a gruesome nature as Nodoka was providing. He could feel the blood drain from his face and became near unreachable by outside factors. 

The Tendou sisters had each been watching their discussion and could feel themselves slipping into some kind of dark abyss as it concluded. From the first moment an angry, soulless gleam had shrouded Nodoka's face. Her smile was simply there, but not attached to any real emotion. True madmen could not pull off such a sickening mask of insanity. 

Nabiki turned away with the first second of Nodoka's hand returning from her bag. Numb, she'd fallen to the ground and expelled the contents of her stomach. When she was sitting in a mess of vomit her body continued to dry heave, unable to cope with what she'd seen. 

Kasumi's chest began to heave in similar convulsions as she watched. The paleness of her skin became a sickly blue gray and she swayed uneasily on her feet. 

From the moment Akane could see the blood dripping from the lifeless head in Nodoka's hand and all the way through the air as it tumbled onto her father's game board, she'd been screaming. Her eyes never left the sight of the mournful agony on the decapitated head. Her body locked up and shuddered, but Akane's screams never quieted. Tears spilled across her cheeks and she continued to scream. Ranma-chan's head rolled for a moment and stopped, it's eyes settling on Akane's position, and the girl continued to scream.

Ranma's last moments could be seen etched over his cursed body's face. The pain and fear of his mother's decision, the indignation for being denied her true form in death, and the sorrow for the ones she would miss. Her blue eyes were left open and the mouth stood in a fixed position as if she had been crying. The pigtail was cut short where the katana must have met it at Ranma's neck. All the beauty and charm Ranma had possessed in either form were utterly corrupted in what could only be thought of as heretical against all the good and honorable things Ranma had stood before.

In the face of the suffering she had now caused, Nodoka turned on her heel. Soun should have known better than to keep Ranma from her. No matter what she had decided upon for the seppuku contract, this had all been a matter of honor. For hiding this thing that claimed to have been her son, lying to her of her son's whereabouts, and pretending to know the meaning of honor, Nodoka hoped the Tendous would all now learn their lesson.

End

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On a particularly dark night I had the sudden urge to kill something great and noble. It's said that an artist isn't finished until they've destroyed what they've created. A catharsis of sorts.

Send C&C to jehtek@hotmail.com

Or visit my website at: www.geocities.com/jehtek

Ja ne.


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